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Has anyone else heard of the dark plan DC Comics has in store for us all in late 2005?

Two words.

[spoiler]Crisis II. [/spoiler]

Thoughts?

Glenn Walker
I've actually heard about this for a while now, and I can't wait to see what it's all about.
Currently I'm only partially following the Bat books and Superman/Batman, so I doubt I'll be terribly affected.

If this....event...does come to pass I can only think of one thing that would truely get me on board for it.....

[spoiler]The ressurection of Stephanie Brown![/spoiler]

I'm not to familiar with the 'precursor' though I do know it had several major impacts that have angered many...many fans. Hopefully this time round they'll get things right.
Probable result:

[spoiler] Simplification of the DC Universe. Also possibly the creation of a new universe with no baggage - Hal Jordan was never Parallax or the Spectre, Hawkman's origins are clear, only one Supergirl, erasure of the Legion reboots, etc. Worst case scenario, even more Hypertime muddlement, or retcons, or bad writing. [/spoiler]

We'll see.

Glenn Walker
Well on paper it almost sounds like a good idea. Almost. Keep in mind that I'm the type of guy whole loves to see the wheel reinvented....with rocket launchers and spikes and purple monkey named Moki.....but even I can see how something like this could go horribly..horribly wrong.

[spoiler]On the one hand....a simplified universe provides a clean slate for new readers meaning they don't need to be aware of the 30+ years of continuity in order to enjoy a particular character's story. But on the other hand, we run the risk of completely losing those 30+ years of history. And that wouldn't be good at all.[/spoiler]
Well, one would hope that [spoiler] it would be like Hypertime or the original Byrne Superman reboot where the writers could pick and choose what was and wasn't in continuity, as long as they tell good stories, BUT... I don't see that coming.

I have also heard terrible whispered rumors of 'Ultimate' versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, so I think new restarted universe is where this is headed.

Please keep in mind though, I am the biggest fan of continuity and shared universes there is, so while the original Crisis was for the most part a good story, it broke my heart and hearalded the end of my love for DC continuity.

Even if most of DC's editorial and writing staff couldn't understand the concept of parallel Earths in 1985, me and my friends easily grasped it at five back in 1969. So there! [/spoiler]
Ok, you guys are scaring me now!!!


I'll have to sit back and see where this one goes. Because what Glenn mentioned above...and knowing I get a Batman book...I'm scared very very scared.
I'd say I'm more concerned & wondering "What the heck is going on?" than actually scared :?

DC can pull whatever they want out of their hat.

If they don't actively work to get their comics everywhere possible (& then some), everything they do won't matter to much of anybody.

Think about it: 100,000 people buying a hit comic may seem awesome but compare that to the total populace of the U.S., even the world.

Sure seems like a drop in the bucket now doesn't it :roll:?

As for me, I can barely afford to buy any comics now. My finances are stretched tighter than a drum. Plus my store is leaving a lot to be desired.

This mini could feature Obsidian, my fave hero, in a really cool spotlight, & I'd have a hard time getting this.

But I figure at most he'll get a cameo or 2 so my not getting this may not matter at all.

It's far cheaper & easier for me to read other people's posted spoilers so if DC wants me to actually go out of my way to buy this, they've got their work cut out for them.
Regarding the rumors of an "Ultimate DC" line... here's the first news of the real deal:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.newsarama.com/DC/AS/AllStarSuperman_Morrison.htm">http://www.newsarama.com/DC/AS/AllStarS ... rrison.htm</a><!-- m -->

Glenn
Oh yeah, just an update, rumor has it the [spoiler]cursed C word[/spoiler] happens late in 2005...

Glenn
Indeed. I doubt it's brand new news to anyone so I'll be sparse with the Spoiler tags here, but following it's recent event, Identity Crisis (stupid DC....), DC comics is already working on/promoting it's "next big thing".....

Countdown.

Details on this "Countdown" are few and far between, but could it be assumed that this will serve as the countdown to

[spoiler]That cursed C word?[/spoiler]
Told you so.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.newsarama.com/WizWorldLA05/DC/Countdowncvr.htm">http://www.newsarama.com/WizWorldLA05/D ... owncvr.htm</a><!-- m -->

Glenn Walker
So has anyone read Countdown yet?

Here's my new review of it -

SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF 53

"CRISIS"

Reviewing DC Countdown or Countdown to Infinite Crisis, written by Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka and Judd Winick, art by Rags Morales, Ed Benes, Jesus Saiz, Ivan Reis and Phil Jimenez, edited by Dan DiDio.

Copyright © 2005, Glenn Walker

Can you hear the wind roar? And underneath the hurricane force gale is a terrible whispered rumor...

Crisis.

The wind cries Crisis.

Yep, it's that time again.

The first Crisis was simply a story that had the then present day Justice League of America meeting the legendary Justice Society of America. It was a simple tale of their foes joining together in a scheme to take out both teams, take all the money and rule their respective worlds. Yes, worlds. That is what the word Crisis came to stand for.

The word Crisis was used by writer Gardner Fox and editor Julie Schwartz in the titles of each annual JLA/JSA team-up and the tradition continued for years after both Fox and Schwartz had left the book. And the 'scientific' concept behind the teams only getting together once a year was that they existed on two different worlds - parallel Earths - co-existing in the same dimensional space yet vibrating at slightly different frequencies. Yep, you got it, former science fiction writer Gardner Fox had string theory sussed out decades before it was fact.

And it's not a hard concept. At the age of five, my big brother explained it to me with a well-read and well-loved copy of Justice League of America #91 in our hands. "It's another Earth, there's another Flash, another Green Lantern, maybe another you and me - just a little different. The people there have just been around longer than we have." There you go, parallel Earth theory for dummies, or five year olds, rather. I understood it, and so did all of my friends who read comics. What was so hard?

Well, apparently it was difficult. Not for anyone reading the comic books at the time, mind you, but for the comic book creators. The annual JLA/JSA team-ups continued, new parallel Earths were discovered. We already had a world for the Golden Age Justice Society, now there was one for the heroes once owned by Quality Comics that DC now owned. That trend of accommodating corporate acquisitions followed suit with the Fawcett Comics characters, and then the Charlton Comics heroes. New Earths were sometimes created whole out of writers' imaginations.

The DC Multiverse was getting mighty crowded. The spotlight on the older heroes and the new worlds spun away from the isolated annual team-ups and spread to other titles, sometimes their own titles. This was a 'golden age' of sorts for comic readers of the time, so many heroes, concepts and stories to thrill to. We loved it all. Check the history books (and man, it hurts to say that), those titles sold well.

We were reading tales of Infinity Inc., the Huntress, Power Girl, the All-Star Squadron, the Marvel Family, the Blackhawks and more. We had no problem with the parallel Earths and could easily distinguish that the Huntress was the daughter of the Earth-Two Batman and Catwoman or that Mr. and Mrs. Superman were the 1950s married Clark and Lois of that same world. But apparently the folks at DC had trouble with it.

Certain writers, artists and editors didn't get it, or refused to get it, and so a plan was hatched - a truly diabolical plan. They commissioned writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez, who were extremely hot at the time with their revamp sensation, New Teen Titans, and who were contemplating doing a linear history of the DC Universe, to solve the multiverse 'problem.'

Thus was born the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the super-crossover. Crossing over into every title that DC published, Crisis detailed the story of the destruction of the DC multiverse and its conversion into one single continuity. It featured virtually every character in their history and was companioned by a Who's Who series to keep track of the players. Heroes died, worlds died, and the cash register rung.

The powers that be at DC were doubly pleased, not only would they get a supposedly coherent shared fiction universe - but they would also make a buck. Now two decades later the continuity of the DC Universe has become repeatedly more incoherent and various patches have failed, but crossovers have become surefire sales gold. Twenty years later, what better way to celebrate such an anniversary? You got it, a crossover, a new continuity patch... a sequel.

All of which brings us to the inevitable. And the countdown to the inevitable, aptly called DC Countdown...

After the first few pages of DC Countdown, (as it's called in the indica, or Countdown to Infinite Crisis as it's called on the cover) I knew who Batman was carrying on the upsettingly disappointing cover by Jim Lee and Alex Ross. The opening and most of the eighty-page story had the stench of that first issue of Identity Crisis about it. Here we have spectacular writing and exciting art reviving and recreating a much-maligned, largely forgotten second-string hero - only to snuff him out.

In IC, writer Brad Meltzer (who gets a special thanks credit in Countdown) managed to make the Elongated Man a viable character, one that could support his own title, one that I would happily buy and read every month. And then he bloodily, hatefully and mercilessly cut out the heart of the Elongated Man, his beloved wife, Sue Dibny. Any might-have-been stories that would have rocked many a potential reader's world was crushed much like Sue's innocent light of a life.

Perpetrators Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka and Judd Winick - who wait until the end of the book to take credit for their vicious murder - do the same thing to the Blue Beetle. In the pages of a DC comic, the Blue Beetle has never looked so good.

This current version of the Blue Beetle was a character bought from the defunct Charlton Comics action hero line. Others of that purchase included Captain Atom and the Question. The Charlton heroes had even been given their own parallel Earth, designated Earth-Four, in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC attempted to give BB a good home but it didn't sell well enough.

The Blue Beetle as a character has a long history. The name first belonged to a Golden Age hero created by Charles Nicholas in Mystery Men (no relation to the Ben Stiller movie or the Flaming Carrot characters it was based on) #1 published by Fox Features Syndicate in 1939. Police officer Dan Garrett gained a variety of super powers - the most consistent of which were flight, super-strength, and being bulletproof, but usually whatever the writers needed him to do - from taking the mysterious Vitamin 2X. The Blue Beetle was extremely popular, he even had his own radio series. He is also one of the few superheroes, outside of DC and Marvel, to survive to the present day.

Dan Garrett was later resurrected at Charlton Comics as an archeologist who found the magical blue scarab of Kha-ef-Re which granted him incredible powers. Other than the names, the previous BB was forgotten. Eventually this new and improved Blue Beetle was replaced by the current version, created in 1966 by the legendary Steve Ditko in Captain Atom #83. This BB was inventor Ted Kord, a fun-loving acrobat simliar to Ditko's Spider-Man, who flew around in a giant mechanical Bug and blinded opponents with his high powered flashgun.

After a brief stint with yet another publisher, Americomics, BB became the property of DC Comics. At Charlton, the Blue Beetle was more akin to a wisecracking daredevil than the high tech hero (more in the mode of Iron Man than Spider-Man) that DC Comics made him. The DC Blue Beetle was notable for featuring great superhero stories by Len Wein and Jean-Marc Lofficier with art by Paris Cullins, a forgotten classic. The unfair cancellation of that book was only the first step in the degradation to come. Next for the Blue Beetle was the comedy revival of the Justice League by the diabolical Keith Giffen.

Once a hero, the most identifiable and fun of the Charlton heroes, the Blue Beetle was now a clown and a buffoon. Paired with Booster Gold, another brilliant superhero concept not given enough a chance, he became one half of a twisted Abbott and Costello team on the laughing stock title of superhero comics. Blue and Gold, as they were called, were the centerpieces of a Justice League book that might have been more serious as a Mad Magazine parody. In my opinion, this was the darkest era of the Justice League, and would be best forgotten.

DC hasn't been very nice to the properties it bought from Charlton Comics for the most part. Captain Atom was at one point set up to be the DCU's greatest villain, Monarch. He was also caught up in the embarrassment of the Giffen League. The Question, while beautifully portrayed by Denny O'Neil and Denys Cowan in the late 1980s, the character bore little resemblance to the original Ditko creation. The current Question is even worse.

It should also be noted that the original version of Watchmen was to have been the Charlton heroes, an entire heroic pantheon whose world is destroyed by their presence, until DC decided they could make more money not destroying those characters, and changing the names to these Charlton-derivations. Now, things have gotten worse for Blue Beetle at least at DC's hands.

Recent appearances in Birds of Prey went a long way toward trying to resuscitate BB's career and reputation. Ted was on his way to being a hero, a serious hero, again. Those appearances along with the extremely well-written starring role in Countdown have made the Blue Beetle someone I want to read about, whose adventures I want to read more of - but in much the same fashion as the Elongated Man in Identity Crisis, another great concept blown to hell.

In my opinion Countdown has far too many things in common with Identity Crisis. Both are wonderfully crafted stories and joys to read - but like recent Marvel contributions like New Avengers and Ultimates - I absolutely hate everything going on in the book. I no more want to see Blue Beetle die than I wanted to see Sue Dibny die, or the Scarlet Witch betray the Avengers or Hank Pym lose it again. I don't want to see this stuff.

There are roughly forty to fifty years of great comics history where no one had to die horribly (or even on panel) to tell a good story. Why can't today's creators take a look back and learn something? It worked before, it can work again. I know that Johns, Rucka and Winick are good writers - now prove it, write a solid complete twenty-two page story, without killing a major character facing earth shattering consequences or especially death. Go ahead, I dare you.

On the good side, Countdown is a sweet package. Eighty pages, roughly ad free, for only a dollar - it's a sight we've not seen since the days of DC's Dollar Comics when we were treated to the same prize with titles like World's Finest Comics, Superman Family and Adventure Comics. Man, those were the days. It does take me aback when editor Dan DiDio rubs that fact in my face in his editorial though.

The art as I mentioned is first class. I am very impressed with the work of Ed Benes, Ivan Reis just keeps getting better and better, and pretty much any time Phil Jimenez graces the pages of a DC comic is a good day. It does however make me sad that Phil was the one to provide that much-too-graphic final page.

Artwise, I also didn't care for the preview of Hal Jordan's new Green Lantern costume. After all that struggle to return Green Lantern to his traditional roots, why the hell did they eff with the costume??? The late Gil Kane's design was not only epitomizes Green Lantern, it was also near perfect. Sigh, if it ain't broke, why fix it? Oh, and smooth move, DC, spoiling the end of Green Lantern: Rebirth before the last issue is out. Yeah, I know it's not like we didn't know how it would end up - but still...

I mentioned above my distaste for the Giffen Justice League so I won't bore you with how disturbed I was that the story ties in so tightly with that era. At least the story here gives some respect to Beetle, Booster Gold and Maxwell Lord as opposed to their treatment by Giffen. My favorite part was Ted's thoughts on Gold, that he knows the future having come from there. It's a great concept that should be used, should he ever be revived again. And now that I've said the name Lord, I should mention it was no surprise to me who the prime baddie here was. It's given away rather early in my opinion.

Speaking of bad guys. I see little logic in the grouping to be featured in the upcoming Villains United. First, isn't Lex Luthor a public figure? Can he afford to be in the company of these other folk, especially after the Injustice Gang debacle in the Grant Morrison run on JLA? It is certainly an odd group, all order-givers, no order-takers. Seems a contest to see whose ego will push the others out of the room.

Villains United is but one of four six-issue mini-series spinning out of this book. At roughly two to three dollars per issue, I foresee DC making all the money it lost on this dollar comic back pretty easily. As I've been enjoying the new Adam Strange mini, I'm looking forward to the Rann-Thanagar War. Hopefully we'll get to see Hawkman explore a bit more of his Thanagarian incarnation. And, oh, Kyle Rayner also appears to be in it, another puzzle piece in Rebirth in place.

Speaking of loose ends from Rebirth, it appears that Day of Vengeance will feature an unanchored Spectre at war with DC's magical characters. Hmmm, if the new Spectre is Sue Dibny, as has been rumored, I'm going to put my fist through a wall. Speaking of putting my fist through a wall, the last mini is called The OMAC Project?

Let me get this straight. Batman built Brother Eye? And OMAC is that thing on the third and fourth to last pages in the book? Let's just leave Jack and his brilliant creations alone, okay? Hear that sound? It's Jack Kirby spinning in his grave. I have to wonder how many times both DC and Marvel can rape a corpse.

Other tidbits that were worthwhile - nice to see the Madmen, Beetle foes from both his DC and Charlton days, and all of BB's inner thoughts on his fellow heroes, all insightful and wasted with Ted Kord's death. We'll never see this kind of writing for this hero again. The Shazam sequence was confusing, how does it have bearing? Hopefully it will be cleared up, probably in Day of Vengeance.

The scarab of Kha-ef-Re was left with the wizard Shazam, and odds are it will be given to someone else, giving birth to a new Blue Beetle. Why, after this great issue, giving new life to the 'old' Blue Beetle, do we need a new one? It's just more proof that there are no bad characters, only bad writers.

While we're on the subject of what's going to happen next, in his editorial, "Crisis Counseling," DC's executive editor Dan DiDio openly invites speculation. He gleefully confesses to the secrecy that kept the real title of this book in the dark until just a few days ago. And most of all, Mr. DiDio officially announces Infinite Crisis as the official sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Will it be the return of parallel Earths? Will it be another botched patch job like Zero Hour and Hypertime? Perhaps it is the end of the DC Universe and a fresh start from scratch. Looking at the cover, some of the costumes are funky, most notably Hawkman and Wonder Woman, whose continuities were scrambled by the original Crisis - maybe that depicts a parallel Earth? Who knows?

Look to the wind.

Listen to the wind...
Hmmm.....where to start? I know!

Quote:....the opening and most of the eighty-page story had the stench of that first issue of Identity Crisis about it. Here we have spectacular writing and exciting art reviving and recreating a much-maligned, largely forgotten second-string hero - only to snuff him out.

While I disagree with the "much-maligned" part, I completely agree with everything else you said there. Countdown showed Blue and Gold in a light that made me believe. It made me believe that in these trying months to come that they, along with Capt Atom, Elongated Man, and possibly Mary Marvel were going to step up and become the heroes that they always could have been. Countdown portrayed Beetle the way I always pictured him in my head when he wasn't with Booster Gold.

But then you have the actual Blue Beetle. The aforementioned artifact that gave the original his powers afer his retcon relaunch. Within the pages of countdown we not only see it left in the hands of Shazaam, but we see it activated and held in the hands of Ted Kord. Perhaps instead being the catalyst that spawns BB the third, it instead acts as some sort of ressurection device for Kord? One can always hope.

As for the Villains United arch, I can see where you are coming from for as the Mandarin once said "To many masters, not enough minions." However I don't think any of them think of it that way. If I recall correctly, the newly "ressurected" Dr. Light was present for the preceedings, and the Society is something stemming from the events of Identity Crisis. I don't think, or at least I can only hope that this will not be a group that sets about trying to confront the Justice League in your most typical of manners. In a big fight sequence. But rather a true counterpart to the League in which Villains...well...unite. Typically when ad guys get together it's to attempt to take down a hero or two. With a little luck we'll be treated to a group of villains who's main goal is not to destroy the League itself, but rather to simply support each other in their endeavors however they can.

Back to the issue of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, I know that it upsets you deeply that a great, serious character, was made the comic partner of the likes of Gold, and probably upsets you moreso that there were/are people like me out there that actually enjoyed it, but at least within his inner thoughts Ted tried to reconcile this fact. Saying that if they didn't take themselves seriously, and no one else did, that no one would expect much out of them. And they wouldn't need to expect much out of themselves. Not the best of reasons, I know...but at least they tried.

Now please don't think I'm trying to defend this book, as I was left feeling slightly sick to the stomach after reading it, coming from the same place you are (In essence at least). Even given my love of Blue and Gold as the second string, comedic characters they were portrayed to be for so long, to give us readers a tale like this only to end it the way they did is shameful. Like I said, I always pictured Beetle being a hero when he was away from Booster, but to actually have the book in my hands that shows it.... And then to have it end like that. With a bullet....

This was the best Blue Beetle and Booster Gold we've seen in years. This was Blue Beetle and Booster Gold as heroes. As Damn Good Heroes. I honestly could care less about Batman and Superman and Dr. Fate and Hal and all the others who cameoed in this issue. This was about Blue and Gold. But instead of using this issue and the upcoming Crisis to wipe their slates clean and rededicate them, DC manages to hospitalize one and kill the other. Must everyone and everything be dark and full of angst over at DC? Is no one allowed a happy ending any more?

I would have been satisfied with a sad ending so long as it allowed for continued character development on behalf of the previously mentioned pair. But it is not to be. Ted Kord died this week, and much like Ralph Dibny the Elongated Man, Booster Gold is now primed and ready to be stripped of any and all humor. Everything that made him the character we knew, regardless of how we felt about him. He won't develop. He won't go thru some sort of inner growth. He'll become another token dark hero for a month or two and then fade away. If he gets that much attention at all.

Crisis isn't the right word for this. Travesty is.





















Oh! And I wouldn't worry about the Sue as Spectre rumors. After all, we all know it's going to be Stephanie Brown. Spoiler. Spectre. She won't even have to change the lil' "Spr" she has engraved on her washroom towels. Besides...shes been rocking the hood look for a good while now. I'm retty sure she has the job sealed. Smile
Don't get me wrong, Truth, I enjoyed the first year of the Giffen League, but after that it became monotonous... and then never ended. It became much like the Poochie episode of "The Simpsons" when Millhouse says, "When are they gonna get to the fireworks factory?"

Here was the League back in the public eye, a fine artist, a heretofore excellent creator and writer - but where was the real Justice League? Where was the superhero action book that had become one of my perennial favorites over the years? Hello? Where was any story at all?

Soon, it became an anathema to me. I got to tune in every month and see my favorite heroes berated as clowns. It was upsetting to see not just classic Charlton hero Blue Beetle belittled, but Booster Gold was a wonderful concept - perhaps Dan Jurgens' greatest achievement - and he had been reduced to a parody as well.

It's so upsetting that I would almost prefer Blue and Gold dead and hospitalized than ridiculed like that again.

Almost.

Three days since I read Countdown and three days since I wrote the review and I'm still enraged. But trust me, despite my words above, what happened to BB in this book is ten times worse than anything Giffen perpetrated on the character.

Glenn Walker
Far worse than Sue Dibny becoming the Spectre... has anyone read the Superman/Captain Marvel crossover yet?

....[spoiler]Jean Loring-Palmer is Eclipso![/spoiler]

Oh my! Did anyone see that coming???

Glenn
Well I've known about it for quite some time but didn't see a reason to bring it up. Big Grin It's part of what prompted me to make that joke about Spoiler becoming the Specter.
The Truth Wrote:Well I've known about it for quite some time but didn't see a reason to bring it up. Big Grin It's part of what prompted me to make that joke about Spoiler becoming the Specter.
Well, believe it or not I am frequently out of the loop. When a multi-part story comes along I don't read it until I have it all in my hands and I also don't read previews and spoilers.

I guess I'm not just old, but old-fashioned. :wink:

However, it is a good save of both the character and the loose ends. Still hate to lose the original, [spoiler]both Jean and the real Eclipso[/spoiler], but what can you do.

Glenn

Guest

You mean the whole "Eclipso has Superman and it's up to you now, Son." and the two of DC's most physical super hero's go at it again? Yeah I'v seen it. My question is, when doomsday shows up, where's Captain Marvel aat when you need him?
Sooooo...

Is anyone reading Infinite Crisis?

My review of issue #1 is here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.comicwidows.com/sweating/index.php?link=0058">http://www.comicwidows.com/sweating/index.php?link=0058</a><!-- m --> at the end of the article.

Infinite Crisis #2 however opened a whole new can of worms. Spoilers abound if you haven't read it yet, so take a care...

[spoiler]
I'm pleased as punch that Power Girl's true secret origin is actually her real original secret origin. And the reunion scenes between her and her cousin the Golden Age Superman were wonderful.

I loved that the Joker may in fact be the ultimate wild card and end up taking out Luthor and his Secret Society. Also the intimation that Booster Gold may have in fact stopped in the now before originally journeying to his first appearance in the 20th century blew me away.

The best part of the book however was the Earth-Two Superman explaining the history of the Multiverse and the creation of the post-Crisis Earth. Loved the bit where he says this new reality is flawed and has a corruptive nature - while the images shown are those of Parallax, 1-900-Robin, Bane, Doomsday, Artemis, Identity Crisis, the son of Luthor/Superboy, the murder of Blue Beetle and Wonder Woman's horribly out of character murder of Max Lord.

Now the bad news - that last page speech, a la Parallax, by the Golden Age Superman. Could the corruptive nature of the the post-Crisis Earth be affecting him? Man, I hope they're not prepping him to be the villain of this piece! [/spoiler]

Glenn Walker
We are reading it. Although I think I have issue #1 in my "Oh damn you need to read this" pile.
Enchantress Wrote:We are reading it. Although I think I have issue #1 in my "Oh damn you need to read this" pile.
Put #2 in the 'oh damn' pile as well, Chanty. And oops on the spoilers. Thanks for the fix. I need crib notes for each message board I'm on. ;-)

Glenn Walker
#2 will be in next week (we get our books monthly).
I'm trying to get caught up on all my books!

I'll let you know when I've got it all read.

As far as the spoilers go..I read them anyway...I can't stand a good (or bad) secret!
Le sigh....

I avoided House of M like I owed it money, but even I find myself falling into the clutches of Infinite Crisis. And while I agree with you on the vast majority of what you said there Glenn, personally I believe....

[spoiler]
....That Earth-2 Superman was right. Batman's been an ass for who knows how long now...Wondy keeps falling off her rocker (The short hair phase....killing Max Lord)...Superman's even gone so far as to lobotomize a guy from space. Things are just....not right.

Now, I don't want Kal-L to end up the bad guy...but I do agree that something needs to happen in order to help our heroes be heroes again. I'm hoping Pee Gee finally learning her origin will wash away all her unneeded angst and allow her to fully bloom. I hope that seeing Kal-L in action doing what he does as only he can will cause Superman to step up his game and get back to being that icon we all know and love. And I hope somehow...SOMEHOW....Batman loses some of his paranoia and becomes likeable again.
[/spoiler]
I agree, I agree, Truth, and those are the things I hope for as well...

BUT

All of the terrible things (from our viewpoints) that have happened in the post-Crisis DCU, no matter the moral or continuity implications, have been HUGE sellers. Money is the bottom line for DC Comics and especially Dan DiDio.

How long do we really think it will be before grim and gritty raises its ugly head once more to make more money for DiDio and his breathren?

Glenn Walker
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